Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer. They are generated by your browser and contain the date and time of visit to a particular website, as well as the page you visited.
Cookies are safe because they cannot transmit or carry malware in any form. They do not in any way affect the functioning of your computer.
When you visit a particular website again, your browser lets the web server know you are a returning user. This information can help improve user experience. For instance, if you were on a shopping site and you last looked at sneakers without buying any, the web server can deliver targeted ads about great deals on sneakers at present. This might be of help if the price was the reason you didn't make a purchase the last time you visited the website.
Cookies can also save your login details, so that you don't have to enter them again the next time you are on the site. Not only does this save you a lot of time by saving you from having to sign in each time, it is also safe - what is present on the cookie text file is a string of jumbled characters that would make no sense if and when read by any third party application. Only the web server has the key to decrypt this information.
We use session cookies, which are present only for the duration of the session. The session cookie comes into existence when you start a session - such as signing in to a restricted area of the website. The cookie being present on your computer prevents you from being logged out automatically.
The cookie ceases to exist when you log out and the secure session is terminated.
Because electronic payment may be enabled on this website, cookies are needed to remember your information between pages. This is to ensure that the transaction is carried out correctly and essential to the working of the website.
We also use persistent cookies, which last longer than session cookies. This lets us know that you might have visited one or more pages of the website, but not others. Clearly, if some pages are receiving more visits than others, then that means two things - we have to work hard to improve the content on the page(s) your visit frequently, so that you will keep coming back even more; and also on the page(s) that you didn't visit, so the you will be compelled to visit them the next time.
We remain constantly committed to improving the user experience.
Persistent cookies also serve another purpose - they save your login ID and password so you don't have to type them out everytime you try to sign in.
We carry out surveys and present questionnaires from time to time to understand our users better and what exactly they would like to see from us. This will help us to improve our website and product / service offerings, leading to a better experience.
We use secure cookies, which is possible only with HTTPS. If you look closely at the address bar in your browser, you will notice that we use an HTTPS server for our website - this means an encrypted connection - and not an HTTP server.
We do not allow the use of any third-party tracking cookies on our website.
A third-party tracking cookie is generated when there is third-party content on a website you visit, usually in the form of an advertisement or sponsored content. That advertisement or sponsored content is actually hosted by another web server, called an ad server.
Because two servers are displaying content in your browser, two cookies are created - a first-party cookie because of the website your visited, and the third-party cookie because of the ad server. With the help of the third-party-cookie, the ad server tracks your online activity and shows you relevant advertising.
We reserve the right to use trusted third-party cookies that measure website performance and do not track your internet behaviour, such as from Google Analytics. Such cookies measure how long you stayed on a particular page, from where you came from, and whether you visited other pages of this website or left.
If you didn't stay for long on any particular page or didn't visit any other pages, then clearly we need to improve the content on that page. This is so we deliver a better experience to our users - if we know the countries from where visitors come to our website, we would be able to offer more localised content that appeals to them in a stronger way.
Google Analytics also looks at which website / page you were on before you came to our website. This helps us to know if referral links on partner sites are working, failing which we may have to take corrective action.
We will also be able to optimise our advertising spend if we can narrow it down to the sites / pages that provide us with the most visitors. This will keep our costs down and enable us to deliver great services at affordable prices.
We may use social media button or plugins on this website. Cookies will be generated on your computer only if you click on them. These social media websites / networks use cookies to store information about you in accordance with their own Cookie Policy.
You can always disable cookies when visiting our website. Please see the Help section of the browser you are using to understand how you can do this.
But this may lead to the website not functioning as expected. If and when in doubt, leave cookies enabled (this is the default setting on most browsers).
The European Union mandates that all websites that cater to EU residents to inform them whenever cookies are used, and obtain their consent.
Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament, which officially came into effect on 25th May 2011, defines this in detail and requires all EU member states to frame laws that meet the intended objectives of this directive. This is binding on all member states under Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
We comply fully with all the laws in the United Kingdom regarding the usage of cookies.
For more information on how we use cookies, please get in touch with us.